HackED

What is HackED?

HackED introduces high school students in years 7 to 12 to the power of location information (geodata) and technology and enables them to use it as part of problem-solving at school and as part of everyday decision-making in the work place in the future.

Is HackED run by SPUR or Landgate?

HackED is run by SPUR which is powered by Landgate. SPUR is Landgate’s location and innovation technology hub. HackED is a way we bring organisations and people together to identify social and economic opportunities and efficiencies.

We’re ‘spurring’ on the understanding of geodata in high schools and supporting industry growth into the future.

Sponsors

Planning state of the art bush fire stations, reducing greenhouse gases in power production, reducing water use and more affordable housing - these were just some of the challenges at HackED 2018.

The annual hackathon run by SPUR, powered by Landgate, attracted 128 keen secondary students on 16 August 2018. The students gathered at the Midland Town Hall and used location data to develop ways to solve challenges and improve their communities.

HackED is an excellent opportunity for students to discover the wide range of location information available through data.wa.gov.au. It’s a fast-paced day building the key career skills of critical thinking, creativity and digital literacy.

The event would not have been possible without the generosity of sponsors including the City of Swan, Kinetic IT and TSG.

Winners

Best Overall Hack

Duncraig Senior High School (team 15 WaterCorp challenge)

A mobile application that tracks your water usage, comparing it to other suburbs. The app provides a recommended water usage amount and promotes ways for people to reduce their water consumoption.

Best Innovative Idea

Yanchep Secondary College (team 25 Western Power challenge)

An effective, environmental solution to harness methane produced by landfills and manure.

Best Use of Geodata

Governor Stirling Senior High School (team 17 Housing challenge)

A 3D simulation of an ideal housing community that promotes wellbeing within the area.

Hale School (team 6 Housing challenge)

NextGen Living: a place where people can come together as a community to look after each other, and change how humanity looks at the world.

Transforming water drainage areas into wetlands, a gaming app to train people for mining jobs and an app to help WA Police and the community map anti-social areas; these were just some of the winning ideas at HackED 2017.

The annual hack-a-thon run by SPUR, powered by Landgate attracted 200 keen secondary students on 17 August 2017. The students gathered at the Midland Railway Workshops and used location data to develop new ways to improve their communities.

HackED is an excellent opportunity for students to discover the wide range of location information available through data.wa.gov.au. It’s a fast-paced, exciting way for students to discover the power of open data and to build the key career skills of critical thinking, creativity and digital literacy.

The event would not have been possible without the generosity of sponsors including the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority, City of Swan, Bankwest, Bloom, Esri Australia and TSG.

Winners

Best Overall Hack

Years 7–9

Sacred Heart College

An app connecting microphones placed on street lamps that would record decibels and alert police to noisy situations such as out-of-control parties.

Years 10-12

St Norbert College

An app allowing young people to use their phones or Smart Riders to access government facilities. Governments would have access to tag-on data which would lead to better planning.

Best Innovative Idea

Years 7–9

Governor Stirling Senior High School

An interactive game that trains people seeking employment in the mining industry.

Years 10-12

Warnbro Community High School

A website for young people to pitch ideas about community events to local governments.

Best Use of Geodata

Years 7–9

Sacred Heart College

A project that uses mapping data to turn water drainage areas into attractive landscaped wetlands featuring art by local Aboriginal people.

Years 10-12

John Calvin Christian College

An app that enables the community to work with WA Police to map local areas affected by anti-social behaviour.

Western Australian secondary students put their creativity and entrepreneurial skills to work to develop new business ideas and tackle a range of community challenges during HackED 2016.

The event, led by SPUR, WA’s new location and innovation hub, powered by Landgate, was held at the Midland Town Hall on 18 August and involved more than 120 secondary students from 12 schools.There even was a regional team from Geraldton Grammar School travelling all the way to Midland this year.

The students used data made available through WA’s Whole-of-Government Open Data Policy to develop their applications, websites and other creative project solutions.

Governor Stirling SHS won the Best Hack prize for developing a bike safety game and John Calvin Christian College was awarded the Innovation prize for their idea to build a shark experience hotel.

History featured strongly as a theme; Joseph Banks Secondary College took out the Datapalooza prize working on a historical sites app, Swan View SHS took out the MRA prize for an Aboriginal heritage map app; and Morley Senior High School won Best Pitch prize for their interactive museum using augmented reality.

First time entrants Cecil Andrews Senior High School won Best Collaboration for their work on an historical walk game app.

SPUR would like to say a huge thank you to all HackED 2016 sponsors, mentors and judges.

On Thursday 20 August 2015 Landgate and its supporters transformed the iconic Midland Town Hall into the venue for WA's first junior app development hackathon – HackED.

The event saw 120 students in 24 teams from seven schools across Perth compete to develop map-based apps to help solve a diverse range of problems. The Town Hall was filled to capacity with the students, their teachers and industry mentors.

The HackED 2015 prize for Innovation went to 'JASE Squad' from John Calvin Christian College in Armadale for developing an app base on creating a 'pop-up' mining town that is sustainable and family friendly.

The prize for best pitch went to 'Common Threads' from Mirrabooka Senior High for developing an app concept that would help unite cultures from across the world by celebrating the 'common threads' between them, such as annual celebrations.

Morley Senior High School's 'Team Real' won best hack for its app dealing with traffic congestion and the prize for location went to 'Sacred Heart Team 2' from Sacred Heart College in Sorrento for its app to help the community understand harmful impacts by humans on the environment.

Schools involved in HackED 2015 were:

Armadale Senior High School

Governor Stirling Senior High School

Hampton Senior High School

John Calvin Christian College

Morley Senior High School

Mirrabooka Senior High School

Sacred Heart College

HackED would not have existed without the contribution of our supporters. We are very grateful to those who contributed their time, knowledge and passion.

Location information and spatial data is everywhere. It's not just about geography! For this reason, we are calling on teachers from all learning areas to link existing projects to the innovative HackED program. They can do so by adding a location component or by creating a new and unique location-based project.

Want to see some examples of previous projects associated with HackED events?

Each project demonstrates a unique location element and may give you some ideas and inspiration in terms of how you might progress a HackED project:

Is there a problem in your community you would like to help solve? Do you have a business idea you want to take to the next level? Is there a better way of living, transport or communication that you would like to explore?

Well HackED is your platform!

Do you know what location information and technology is? Have you heard of spatial science before?

Location information and technology – or spatial science (as it is also known as) - is not limited to geography or science. It is becoming an important component of society that makes a significant difference in the corporate world and the lives of everyday people.

Things we use every day, like Google Maps, Uber and Instagram, all use location information (or spatial data).

In our fast-changing State, how would it be possible to plan for infrastructure without using location information? It's everywhere! Needless to say, if you understand it, you'll have a great advantage. And who knows, HackED may take you beyond the competition as you may discover a passion for a possible study or career path.

Bring your real-world challenges and use location information and technology and let's solve these problems. There will be several prizes up for grabs.

HackED Mentors come from a broad cross-section within the community. They help enrich the students' experiences by showing them how and where location information is used. Some of our mentors have a highly technical geospatial background and others simply have a good understanding of how location information can make a difference. In all cases, they have successfully sparked that passion for location.

If you would like to register your interest in mentoring at HackED, please contact the HackED Team at spur@landgate.wa.gov.au.